How old should you be to start reading WoT?????????

[Guest Egwene]

Obviously a six year old that knows his letters could read it. But at what age do the books make sense?

 

My niece is eleven and I am just itching to lend her tEotW. She has read Philip Pullmans Dark Materials and obviously Harry Potter. But reading and understanding are two different things...

 

Is eleven too young?

[Jedimuppet]

I first read Tolkien when I was eleven, and it was a very positive experience for me. Plus, it was a lot of fun for me to bond with the adults in my life over a "grown-up" book.

 

If worse comes to worst she'll not get all the deeper references, but that might make you talking to her about the story that much more rewarding.

J

[HighLordXanthus]

I would say that it depends on the maturity level of the child. Is she allowed to watch violence on tv/movies? What about some of the more vivid sexual references? If her reading level is there, and you think she has the attention span to follow through for several thousand pages, simply talk to her mother and ask her, tell her what it is about, and some of the more sorted aspects. If she has read current in Harry Potter, my guess is that she has the attention span and the mental maturity to read it and comprehend.

[mightisright]

I started at 12 and that was about right. It just means the second and third time you read the series you discover new things and comprehend a lot more. These books are tamer then the majority of stuff on tv and obviously more intellectually stimulating.

[dalic]

Kids have amazing imaginations. She may not understand all the deeper meanings of the books(which of us does), but her imagination will make the books come alive in her mind way more than in us. I wish someone would have shown book one to me way back when. I started reading the series at 28 two years ago.

[Guest Majsju]

Well, most kids should have the nexessary reading comprehension around 12. But it's individual, just check the level of difficulty on the other things they're reading.

 

Although, it might be a good idea to not introduce it to too young readers before it's actually finished, kids are not exactly famous for being the most patient of people...

[Crusher]

practically anyone can read WOT as long as they can make out what at least 4/5 of wat half the stuff means

[Patrick]

I started reading it when I was 10 and it turned into my favorite book right away, so it will probably be ok for your niece as long as her parents don't mind.

[Cam]

i first read the Golden Compass when i was 10 or 11...i didnt rly understand it tooooo well (i got most of it) and i read the subtle knife a year or so later... then a year or 2 after that i read the amber spyglass...i think if i had read them all when i was about 12 i would have understood them completely, so 11 is pretty ok....

as for WoT i started when i was just 15...as it was i didnt rly grasp everythign. It wasnt till my reread that i understood all that was going on...so 11 might be a bit young...the worst that could happen is that she wont understand the books, or the attention span may be a bit short...there are lots of plots/sub plots and the books are damn long...

[Inara]

my sister is 12, and she has just finished northern lights, which i guess must be the golden compass in the US. she understood it all and enjoyed it and has just started the subtle knife. i guess youre right, it is up to the child. i had issues with the sheer number of characters introduced right at the start of tEotW when i was 12 and i had to read it a couple of times to really get into it. (the start of tEotW, that is...not the whole book)

i cant wait until she reads the last one of 'his dark materials'.

next i'm going to give her the hobbit

then the wheel of time

 

her reading level is above average, so your neice's must be pretty high too, just dont rush her, you might put her off.

[Luckers]

I got given the first book of the wheel of time and a song of ice and fire on my 11th birthday. Loved WoT... hated aSoIaF. Now i love both. I think WoT's pretty harmless, and fairly easy to read.

[Guest Egwene]

My thoughts are that the contents from language, amount of violence and sexual content is pretty ok even for much younger kids. But the point some of you make about being put off by too many characters, too complex (drawn out) a story is what had me worried more.

 

It's great to hear so many positive experiences from people that read the books really early. I think I might use them as examples when I explain to my nieces parents about WoT.

 

The one thing I want to avoid at all costs is to put her off.

[Jellybelly]

You gotta ambush her with the books NOW before she becomes fifteen and gets it into her head that reading is not cool!

[alCal]

I started reading WoT when I was 12, and loved it from the first page. I didn't understand everything, but at least I thought I did ^^.

Actually, it's not important to understand everything the first time you read it as long as you understand enough. If she likes the series she will come to understand more and more the more times she read the books, as all of us ^^.

11 is probably not too young, but it depends on the maturity of the reader. But on the other hand Egwene, if you lend her tEotW and she likes it she will love you for ever. And I have never heard of a person who doesn't love WoT...

 

"But the point some of you make about being put off by too many characters, too complex (drawn out) a story is what had me worried more.

The one thing I want to avoid at all costs is to put her off.

 

In tEotW it's not that many characters, and the slow pace of the later books isn't there, so I don't think that she will be put of. At least not by reading TEotW alone. I f she likes it, well, she's probably going to like the hole series.

[DragonSpawn]

I started Jordan with nine, read about 100 pages, left it until I was twelve then picked up the book again. Tolkien the hobbit around eight, and lord of the rings also nine. Silmarrillion I read with eleven however. I think it all depends on ones skills in languages and reading.

[Deathblade]

I started Jordan with nine' date=' read about 100 pages, left it until I was twelve then picked up the book again. Tolkien the hobbit around eight, and lord of the rings also nine. Silmarrillion I read with eleven however. I think it all depends on ones skills in languages and reading.[/quote']

You read the Silmarillion at 11? Holy crap. It's so hard to read. It's like reading a dictionary. I read it at 14 and a few times since...

[ronoc/booms]

i believe it would very much depend on the child. i know kids of twelve that could enjoy Wot, and adults who wouldn't make heads or tails of it. i personally started reading fiction at 10. the hobbit at 10. LotR at 11, along with the silmarilion at 12. and WoT at 13. i'm forthteen now, and am rereading the books, and i think i'm picking up on alot i missed. it may be the difference in age (i know just one year, but it makes a difference when your a teenager) or just that you get more from reading them a second time. i personaly think 11 is a bit young, though as i said it depends on the child. i would say it better to wait and make sure. if your niece doesn't understand the books now and gives up on them she may be slow to start them again. i've seen it in people before.

 

also, whats the golden compass, i've read His Dark Materials and i've never heard of it. is it the Northern Lights?

[jmashore]

The first time I tried to read it I was about 13. I read the first 150 pages and thought it was very boring. I picked it up when I was about 18 and was then hooked. I think the difference was that at age 13 I would only read about 1 chapter at a time, while as an adult I now read a 100 pages or more at once.

[Kadere]

If she can read His Dark Materials Trilogy, and understand it, then I see no problem understanding this. You can even give her resources like encyclopaedia-wot.org to help her keep the characters straight. I'm sure she'll love it.

[Zachary]

Who are any of us to really judge how much or little someone would understand the books? You may as well just give her the Eye of the World and tell her it's a very good book that you think she'd enjoy, instead of worry about it's appropriatness when it really doesn't have many things that would negativly influence someone.

 

Well, I suppose she should also be able to know what the big words mean. But if she can't understand the words now and is not interested enough to learn what they mean, she'll have the books which she'll read at some point, if she likes reading.

 

And if her parents are anything like mine, they'll just be happy that she's reading a book instead of doing something dangerous.

[Guest Egwene]

Thanks everyone... your comments have been really useful. I think I might look towards next christmas as being a good excuse for the best christmas present ever :D

 

She'll be near enough twelve than and hopefully she'll love the books as much as I do.

[Andrew B.]

I first read Tolkien at eight which sort of made me go fantasy crazy. I started wot when I was 11 and loved it. Maybe tell your niece a tad bit about the first book and see if she is intrested.

[Guest Egwene]

lol... sneaky, Andrew :D Not a bad idea actually.

[Guest cwestervelt]

i first read the Golden Compass when i was 10 or 11...i didnt rly understand it tooooo well (i got most of it) and i read the subtle knife a year or so later... then a year or 2 after that i read the amber spyglass...i think if i had read them all when i was about 12 i would have understood them completely' date=' so 11 is pretty ok....

as for WoT i started when i was just 15...as it was i didnt rly grasp everythign. It wasnt till my reread that i understood all that was going on...so 11 might be a bit young...the worst that could happen is that she wont understand the books, or the attention span may be a bit short...there are lots of plots/sub plots and the books are damn long...[/quote']

 

Actually, the worst that can happen is that a person can be turned off a book/author permanently because of that lack of comprehension. It's like when they tried to force feed Dicken's to me in high school. A Tale of Two Cities wasn't too bad, but the satirical content of Great Expectations was so beyond my comprehension at the time that Dicken's was permanently soured on me. It's been over 15 years and I still can't make myself re-read it even though I know my original dislike was because I wasn't ready to read the book.

[Inara]

exactly

an old boyfriend of mine refused to go and see twelfth night with me because he didnt understand what the hell Julius Ceasar was about in high school

it is really sad, such a waste, and so frustrating for the person who wants you to get into it and enjoy it as much as they do